Last Group Is Done

We got the last group of cows worked today.  V was home from college and E checked out of school early because not much is going on the last few days of school.

It was very nice having the extra help.

The little calves didn't know what was coming.

Now they are sporting their new jewelry.

J uses the first number as the year they were born.  He used to use the second number as the cow number when he caught and tagged them at birth.  But now that we work them later the second number is random.  It was also a problem when we kept heifers from a cow.  The heifer would have the same number as the cow so the calves would all have the same number.

V has taken over my job of tail holding.  I didn't mind giving that job up at all.

And E still enjoys running the pharmacy.

Some of the calves got a little too close to the wrong end of the cows.  All of the spring grass has made things a little runny.

Moms were at the door waiting for their little ones to be done.
I had some questions last post about using a composite bull.  J's theory is that if you have a crossbred program you like,  it is easier to keep the percentages with a crossbred bull.  If you use a purebred then there is a higher percentage of that one breed.  Our herd is mostly Angus based with red Angus, Hereford, Simmental and Tarentaise.  We also have a new bull this year that has a small percentage Brahman.  Our main bulls are purebred Angus and Hereford though.  J is trying to produce a cow that will be optimal for our location and management.